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I have a little problem. I'm addicted to cookbooks, food writing, recipe collecting, and cooking. I have a lot of recipes waiting for me to try them, and ideas from articles, tv, and restaurants often lead to new dishes. I started losing track of what I've done. So now I'm taking photos and writing about what I've prepared—unless it's terrible in which case I forget it ever happened.

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Thursday, October 21, 2010

It couldn’t have been better coordinated. Just after reading about persimmons in the latest issue of Edible Austin, we received persimmons in our CSA. A persimmon bundt cake with Italian cream cheese frosting was mentioned along with a salad with toasted walnuts and a persimmon flan. Everything sounded delicious and I’m hanging on to that bundt cake recipe, but I immediately zeroed in on the persimmon martini with fresh ginger, lemon, and a vanilla bean. The cocktail recipe was written with a juicer in mind, and I don’t own one. I pureed the persimmon flesh with lemon juice and grated ginger rather than juicing them. However you do it, the flavors will be fantastic. This cocktail is perfectly suited to the fall season, and I’m already thinking of other ways to combine these well-matched ingredients.

I started by scooping the very ripe flesh from four persimmons and picking out the seeds. That went into a food processor with lemon juice, freshly grated ginger, seeds scraped from half a vanilla bean, and a little honey. It was processed until smooth, and then it was stirred with ice and vodka in a cocktail pitcher until well chilled. The ice was strained as the martinis were poured into glasses. If you use a juicer, your fruit mixture will be thinner and should work fine in a cocktail shaker. I learned the hard way that my puree didn’t pour well through the shaker’s strainer. Hence, I transferred it to a pitcher. Once in glasses, the martinis were garnished with half a vanilla bean.

The vanilla warms up the persimmon flavor, and the ginger and lemon add zing. As soon as I tasted this concoction, I imagined it would make a delicious sorbet or maybe a pudding. Or, I might simmer it until it’s thickened and pour it over ice cream. Maybe I should mix a few more martinis and see what other ideas come to mind.

Oh my gosh I saw those recipes and am so glad you tried the martinis. Aren't they the most gorgeous drinks? You did a fantastic job improvising without a juicer. I happen to be lucky enough to have a huge persimmon tree in my front yard. I have been slowly picking them, letting them ripen, and collecting pulp to make either bread or cake with. I'll definitely post whatever I end up doing - thanks for sharing the tinis:)

MMmm persimmons. I grew up eating these. Until college I thought they were a Korean fruit (called gahm in Korean) and didn't even realize there was an american name for them!! They're SO good. My old roommate's parents had a persimmon tree in their backyard so she'd bring bags of them home for us. I would LOVE to try a persimmon martini!

I saw fuyu persimmons in the market the other day. How clever to use them in a drink! I've had them in salads. Dying to try this. I've done a lot of baking with the hachiya persimmons. None around yet....and they need to be smushy ripe.

I have never cooked with persimmons... in fact I am not even sure if I have ever tasted one. But half the point of interacting with other food bloggers is getting new ideas and expanding your horizons, is it not? =) This looks and sounds delicious!